Monday, September 30, 2013

Mohammed never did tell anyone to attack anyone. He lived in very violent times where help was in what you could do for yourself and your people. Times, have certainly changed. If Islam were created today it's possibly he would have created it just the same, for it wasn't during his lifetime that much of what has gone wrong in Islam, was put into place or action. Just like in Catholicism. Much of the insanity in that religion came to be hundreds of years after Jesus lived and taught what he taught.

Those terrorist Islamic Jihadists who kill unnecessarily (that is in not killing directly to protect but to kill outright in bombing outside of the battlefield and thereby murdering innocents) need to remember what their own Prophet said, which to me decries their murderous actions against innocents from their leader's own words.

To claim a non-battlefield is a battlefield, to claim it okay to kill those who may not even have voted for the administration of their own country who may kill Muslims, to say that they have a right to kill other innocent Muslims when attempting to kill who they perceive to be their enemies, to kill those who might very well agree with their complaints, is cowardly.

Not cowardly in the sense that it takes courage to face death and die. No, certainly not. But then consider, if you are guaranteed rewards, just how bravely really, is it? When you believe that you kill yourself and you are rewarded in Heaven with, whatever... just how brave is it? Perhaps not to do it would be more brave. Sometimes not doing these things in the brave thing, not the following through but the challenge of not killing. How brave is it to face death when you believe you will become ruler of the world or exalted in an afterlife? Perhaps in that situation it is cowardice to follow through, but brave to go against that, not to kill, as the Quaran teaches.

These are Cowards in that they will not just admit to killing for killing's sake, needing to justify and rationalize it through a subversion of their religion for their own bloodthirsty and selfish desires, bastardizing their beliefs that even most Muslims disagree with most adamantly. Brave are those who stay alive and stand for making things work in the world, to bring all Humankind together. Cowardly is to leave the world to its own devices and take the easy way out to not have to find solutions to the impossibly difficult process of making the world a wonder and a beautiful place to live in.

Initiating violence is always the final resort of the fool, the coward, the ignorant. A wise person will find ways to bring about a peace and solution. Just as Mohammed did, or tried to do. But in reviewing his life, one does not see what has been done in modern times by so called, Jihadists.

What did Mohammed say about how to treat one another? Many Islamic scholars, some Muslim, some not, seem to think that his last sermon summed up all of his teachings in one short sermon.

But before I get to that I'd just like to say that I find it very curious how certain Muslims will kill over someone drawing a cartoon of Mohammed. Isn't that elevating him to a position that only God should hold? In only displaying Mohammed with no face aren't they elevating him beyond what he would have wanted himself? The desire not to portray anyone or anything between oneself and God is very much subverted when one throws such a fuss over their Prophet being depicted. I find in reviewing Islam that there is, as with other religions, quite a bit between themselves and their God.

The desire not to show Mohammed's image is a Muslim issue, not a non-Muslim issue and to force that on a non-Muslim is anti-Muslim. For Sharia Law to be so judicial in its admonitions and punishments is against non-Muslims, as it was only in the 9th century, hundreds of years after the death of Mohammed, that these things were even put into practice in an attempt to govern an ever growing community.

I truly doubt that Mohammed, anymore than Jesus, would recognize his religion were he to come back now a days to look at how things have been deconstructed and restructured for the selfish needs of a few who were trying to enforce beliefs that were never there in the beginning and never given to the faithful by Mohammed. Jesus never said priests should never marry. And Mohammed never said to blow up innocent people. He even exercised mercy on those he could have slaughtered.

It's time to think about all this, to re-evaluate where things are now and to get back to the original beliefs of a religion that believed above all else in doing no harm and allowing others to live and let live together. Perhaps the following will help you see what I mean.

And while we're at it, isn't it always curious when God gets involved in financial matters?

THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD'S LAST SERMON
This Sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul Hijjah 10 A.H in the Uranah Valley of mount Arafat.

“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore, listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.

O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. God has Judged that there shall be no interest, and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn Abd’al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived...

Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.

O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under a trust from God and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.

O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God, perform your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadan, and offer Zakat. Perform Hajj if you have the means.

All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; white has no superiority over black, nor does a black have any superiority over white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.

Remember, one day you will appear before God and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O people, and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray.

All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and it may be that the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.”

Wouldn't it be incredibly wonderful if all believers in Islam everywhere, were to just start practicing what is is contained in these words? Isn't it high time that we all just started to get along.

And by the way. For those of you who think I'm being racist, or just picking on Islam, I'm not. there's enough nuts in Catholicism, and just about any other religion I can think of. Basically if you're going to believe in something, learn what it's all about and don't just do what my mother did when I asked her, "how do you know what you believe is true?"

Her response? "I believe what my parents taught me." Really? We asked our parish Priest who was over for lunch one day about one of her beliefs and he looked shocked and flat out said to her, "Well, that's not what our religion teaches us." Yet it was what her uneducated parents taught her.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Last year I bought a new bike and rode it every day on my vacation at a local park with a mile long bicycle path. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed riding. I used to ride around Greenlake in Seattle and along the Burke-Gilman Trail around Lake Washington. So coming from being used to a nice long bike path to roads in Kitsap County where I live, they are just not so great in comparison.

Still, I've been looking for a closer place to ride. Finally, found one that works for me, for now, until I get to be a stronger rider to head out for the great unknown (if ever).

Parking in the Junior High lot

I started to ride for the first time this year mid-summer. It's nice there because I can park at the local Junior High, and the bike path is right there, on that road.

Junior High school parking lot and road

It's a nice wide road too, with a marked bicycle path. Traffic isn't very heavy and I don't feel too paranoid riding with cars whizzing by. Some of the roads around here are dangerous and people have died being hit by a car. I know one guy who is now a paraplegic from a car / bike accident.

At the beginning of the path loop

This brings us to a day when I was riding the path and found a dead Dragonfly on the roadside. It was odd. Perfect looking. Almost manufactured. It was just sitting there on the roadside. I had to stop my bike and get off to look at it. It was blue and colorful. No damage whatsoever. It was remarkable.

Which, is why I'm remarking on it here. I wanted to take it home but there was no place safe to put it. If I put it in my bike somewhere as I have bags on the bike to carry my phone, keys, etc., so they aren't all in my pockets rubbing uncomfortably. But I was sure it would get damaged if i put it on the bike. So I figured, well I'm here to ride after all, so I got on my bike and continued on.

fence line with posts and reflectors

But I kept thinking about it and on the way back on my second loop I saw it again. It was just sitting there on the road. But I kept on going. On the final loop back I saw it again. This time I'd had plenty of time to think about it and finally had decided I would have to do... something.

reflector on post

I thought I would set it aside for now, then when I was done riding I could pack up the car, drive up, park on the roadside, retrieve it and put it safely in the car. Once back at home I could then figure out how to display it. This may sound somewhat morbid to some but I was fascinated by what a piece of art it was and after all, I hadn't killed it, had I? It was almost like a gift from nature and needed to be preserved, at very least so that others could see it.

Carefully, I picked it up and set it on the fourth reflector post from the beginning of the road fence line. There was a reflector on the eighth post, the fourth reflector post as they were set every other post. The reflector was a right angle and almost seemed to me like a perfect place to put the Dragonfly. It was almost like a display and also partial protection from the wind. So I set it there. I realized the wind might catch it, but there was nowhere else to put it. And it would be easy to find after I got in the car. It just sat there. Still. Why I didn't take a photo I don't know. Now I realize that I should have.

The problem with all this was that when I got in the car, I was also concerned about a burn on my leg from riding my Harley with shorts on. Something I won't be doing again any time soon. It was taking forever to heal and the Neosporin I had been using almost seemed like it was making it worse. It worked at first but then felt like it was simply irritating it.

Because of that burn, I decided after I was done riding for the day, that I would turn right instead of left at the stop light at the "T" intersection up the road on the way home. And of course before I even made that decision, I had forgotten all about the Dragonfly.

It wasn't until much later in the day that evening that I even thought about it again. I could have gotten up right then to go see if it was still there. But I figured it might not be by then and it would just be a wasted six mile drive, twelve round trip. Which by the way was better than the nine mile drive I had been doing last year to Battlepoint Park on Bainbridge Island. A difference of six miles round trip, last year to this.

I stagger my work outs every other day. One day anaerobic, next day aerobic. So the next day I lifted weights for exercise. The next day was a Saturday. It was supposed to rain but then the weather changed and it was nice requiring only a sweatshirt to ride comfortably. So I went back. As I drove by I checked and didn't see the insect, much as I had expected not to as it had been windy the day before.

I parked, got geared up and headed down the path. On the return trip I stopped at the fourth reflector post. I looked around. Nothing. There is a steep sandy slope for about eight feet down to heavy foliage. I looked for a while, very carefully. I tried to go down the slope half way and almost quickly ended up at the bottom all the way. But in the end I had to conclude, either someone took it, which I would have been fine if they had only made good use of it and for the right reasons, or the wind had simply blown it away. Taking that into consideration, I scanned the foliage again very carefully. Still nothing.

So I rode off. As I made the loop a second time, I scanned the road and roadside. Nothing. No Dragonfly laying around anywhere. In fact, no insects at all, really. Finally I turned at the end of the road near my car and began my last and final loop. Now up to this point there had been nothing out of the usual, nothing odd, nothing unexpected.

But then it happened. As I was starting the final loop, the same kind of Dragonfly flew right by me, almost as if to say, "Hello". It came up on my right, flew along with me a moment, sped up in front of me and crossed over to my left and continued on quickly disappearing. I let it go as to watch it too intently could end me up on the pavement in a rather unpleasant and painful event.

What was so weird about this was that I had an overwhelming feeling that somehow it was the same Dragonfly. Had it come to let me know that it was all alright after all? Was it telling me to be at peace, that I hadn't made a mistake in having forgotten about it, or in not coming back to look for it as soon as I did remember? Or to let me know that it had been fine and perhaps had only been hibernating for some reason mysterious, though perhaps quite normal?

In the end, I really don't know. Really, can't know, right? But I'm pretty sure it was just a coincidence.

Now if I had been of a different mindset, a different orientation, I might have attributed it to God, God, or many Gods, a High Power, some kind of (hopefully) benign greater force in the universe.

It was only a quick, short trip to go one of two vastly different directions. Had I taken the road less taken? Or had I take the road most taken? Regardless, I had taken the road I always have tried to take. That on seeing both, acknowledging both, enjoying the possibilities in both, and more. And then continue on. The Dragonfly experience was now part of who I was. Again.

It reminded me of a time, decades ago. My family was camping up near Mt Rainier. I was on a road at the National Parks campground with my siblings and we were playing. We discovered a Dragonfly and followed it around, fascinated. We were reminded of when we were younger and living in Philadelphia. We were behind our apartment complex on Sharpnack Street, my sister and I. We were doing what a lot of kids do that time of year. Capturing fireflies in glass jars.

But now we were in Washington state. And the Dragonfly was near Mt Rainier. It had landed on a leaf. I watched as it moved and something came out of it. I was amazed that it was purple. Had it taken a purple dump there on the leaf? I told my sister, though she didn't seem so interested. But what takes a purple shite on a leaf like that? I found postings worth reading as they are funny. Someone said their shite is silver, another said it's sperm, yet another might be right in it being eggs. Well, whatever.

After all this, I started to wonder what a dargonfly meant, historically. What did it symbolize? Many insects have meanings attributed to them over the ages by people of various cultures and races. So I looked it up. Dragonflies have been thought to symbolize such things as:

Ever since childhood I had felt some kind of wonder at these creatures and apparently I'm not the only one in the world or through history who felt that. I believed as a child that they had some kind of meaning beyond their mere existence. These Dragonflies were after all in my mind, pretty awesome.

I've been somewhat fascinated by them ever since. And to have been made a gift of a Dragonfly as I had with it just sitting there on the side of a road, seemed somehow amazing, too. Did it mean something? I knew that in reality it was yet another a random event in a serious of random events extending over the length of my life. But still it somehow made me feel like my choice of bicycling, of choosing this path, of doing it on that day...well, that everything was right. That it all fit, the universe was somehow aligned. Yes, that is all pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

My point being here that it is natural to feel or believe in such things. It's the easy belief to have and it's that kind of thing that has led us to a variety of mistakes along our history as Human Beings. There is value in seeing, understanding these things, but also in not believing in them intrinsically. I believe there is also value in ascribing symbolism as it can be a kind of shorthand in communications between people, and understanding one culture's symbolism can be a powerful thing when another culture is trying hard to understand and communicate with them.

All of this is in part why the absurdest pseudo-religion, "Church of the Pure Purple", or for those who find its association with religion as distracting, then its umbrella organization, "Purpleism" which uses the Dragonfly as part of it's symbol.

It's all about reality you see. Actual reality, not perceived reality, not merely believed reality. Believing in things that make sense. Avoiding the senseless things in life. Avoiding those things that are just stupid. Cutting through nonsense and helping people through the banal and the nonsensical and therefore helping out our entire Human race, to advance and live more in peace and harmony.

Far too often we find ourselves following the status quo, going through the motions when really, if we just stood back and thought about what we were believing in or what we were doing, we'd realize that we were being pretty stupid. Still, that's partly how the world is set up. It's not all our fault after all. But we do need to recognize those times and do what we can do fix it. Sometimes that means doing what is generally considered to be wrong, getting punished for it, all the while knowing that what you are doing is truly the right thing to do and maybe, hopefully, you are saving an innocent in the process. Possibly someone caught being chewed up in the machinery of society, religion, or humanity for that matter.

I will end with this there. I've given you the information, some of my experience and places to seek more interesting information.

I do question our belief in our perceived exceptionalism now a days. There are certainly still things that make America great, but is it really what we are being led to believe it is? Or is it in something else more intrinsic to who we are and in what we can positively achieve in the world? I'm hoping, more and more it involves non-military practices.

It's high time we start redesigning our military / industrial complex, how we believe they should be used (or how we are being used by them) and in doing so, take control back from them.

The middle east is a complicated place. We need to understand that what we publicly say as a nation, is not always what we will do in the end (or so it should be). That's how it works in manipulating a situation toward more positive results. Finesse a situation. Only fools believe they have to use force all the time.

Do we need to have the "big stick" behind the talk? Does the "big stick" need to be used so often in dealing out its death and destruction all (any) of the time? When one uses that "big stick" too much, it begins to turn into another thing. It changes those who wield it and that makes that entire theory of this type of diplomacy questionable.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far," said President Roosevelt. What do you want that to mean? And what does "speak softly" really mean? I believe it means to speak civilly, intelligently, sometimes behind the scenes even, but always effectively. Backing it up with strength. The goal after all, is to not go beyond that.

We seem to have lost that understanding far too often in not applying intellect over force. How do we know that you ask? Really? Because we've been using force a lot in case you haven't noticed. And if we don't at some point stop it, then who have we really become?

NOTE: A blatant plug for a Friend.
People keep trying to spam my blog so I might as well just do it myself, right?
IF you've had quite enough of all this reality stuff, check out fellow Author Kurt Giambastiani's latest ebook novelette, "The Revitalization of Emily", on Amazon.
Cheers!

Monday, September 9, 2013

I was just watching a DVD of the old Smother's Brothers Show from 1967-69 (yes, good old Netflix). They had the West Coast Cast of the Musical "Hair" on. They sang "The Age of Aquarius". In listening to them perform, I found myself drifting back to those times. I watched the Smother's Brothers show and loved it as a kid. So, this drew my mind back to those times, to the "Age of Aquarius" as we knew it back then. It brought back to me a sense of wonder. Forced me to compare then, and now.

That was a time of opening minds, of new possibilities. Of things being served to the public we had never known of before on a silver platter. Of Vietnam and the war there. Of despair, and boredom in our society and in our way of life. And then this "Age of Aquarius" hit and suddenly we were aware of new ideas, new thoughts, new possibilities. Of Hope. Hope in the possibility of forces outside of our daily lives giving more meaning to what we went through than what we were experiencing at the time.

The boredom and doldrums of the 1950s were then behind us, the early 60s were even behind us and there was hope that we could as a people, win out over the "Cold War", the "M.A.D. (Mutual Assured Destruction) nuclear arms destruction fears, our favored leaders being murdered, the binding chains of our history in finally making African Americans equal to all others, and experiencing the freedom of being able to take life on, on one's own terms. To make of life what we wanted of it and not just do what was expected of us.

To create, invent, explore what was out there and marvel at the unknown.

Lorraine Schneider poster

Watching the show reminded me of what it was about, that whole "hippie" movement, the"Love Generation". Slogans like "Make love, not war", and "War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things" a poster originally done by Lorraine Schneider.

It reminded me of that feeling of possibility, of hope, of faith, and how fulfilling it was to feel such things. To feel that hope and have a belief that somehow, out there, there was something protecting us greater than ourselves. and not just a "God" of religions. Or the concept that, if we could just figure it out, whatever it was, we could use it to protect us. That there was something outside of our Lives, Religions, our Leaders who had led us into war, or those authorities around the world who weren't making such a great world for us and in some cases, were building a nightmare for other humans under their charge, and the enemies of those people, who really weren't their enemies at all and in some cases, were us through some misunderstanding related to culture, ideology or geography, where we were all supposed to hate one another. Why?

I was shocked many years later to hear a Soviet citizen being interviewed on their streets saying that she was fearful of Americans. They were fearful of us? Because she said, with almost tears of fear in her eyes, that we Americans were the only nation in the history of the world who had dropped not only one but two atomic bombs on a civilian population of another country. Years after that I was again surprised to hear yet another Soviet citizen say that they actually liked American people whom they had met.

So they weren't the evil Communists after all, that we had for decades been led to believe they were. And though we were scared of them, they honestly had far more reason to be afraid of us, than we should have been of them.

It makes you think.

Watching the Smother's Brothers show brought all this back up again. To realize those 1960s feelings of hope, excitement at the possibilities in life, of wonder at the opening up of the universe to us, and to our minds. We need to remember that hope though it is something that we seldom get in life.

We find it in Science Fiction. Sometimes, in human interest stories. But not much anymore like we did in the 60s. That was a time of unique experiences that shimmered out into the culture as more and more people experienced things like transcendental meditation, smoking pot, "dropping acid", alternate ways of thinking outside the box, and so on. I'm not advocating drug usage, I'm advocating thinking, thinking in new ways, thinking in ways that push us upward and onward.

Those feelings of hope and adventure back then were palpable and real. Hope was giving us a chance to make things new and different. Now we just seem to have new, new technologies mostly. It gave us faith back then, if not so much faith in religion and God, in ourselves. Religious or not, that is always the first step. Whether God made us or not, or exists or not, we were put here to achieve and to rely on our "God given" talents, to make our way, to take care of others, to build on what we have, and to appreciate what we have achieved. If offering that up to God was how appreciating it was supposed to be, then you simply did that.

But more and more what we saw were people who were self-actualizing and when they did that they began to realize, that it was them who had made the differences in life. All the prayers and proffering they had been told all their lives were the way and the salvation, it finally became obvious... something was wrong. We began to question if what we had been told all our lives, were true. Or if someone had been sorely mistaken. Maybe, all of us.

The 60s were the "Age of Aquarius" and it could be now, again. Maybe it would be called something else now as after all, time has passed.

According to Astrology Zone (yeah, yeah I know but don't fade on me now, check this out):

"The age before the Age of Aquarius was the Age of Pisces. Since the earth is moving in retrograde motion, we have just left the Age of Pisces, which marked the years 1-2000 AD. This time coincides with the age of Christ and Christianity. Pisces is the sign known for universal love, compassion, self-sacrifice, altruism, creativity, intuition and deep spirituality. This Piscean mindset has been the way humanity has approached the world since we evolved and has colored everything that we have encountered during that period.

"Early Christians used the symbol of the fish (symbol of Pisces) as a secret symbol of their faith. The emphasis on washing of the feet as a ritual signifying purification of the spirit ties into Pisces symbolism as well, for Pisces rules the feet. Pisces "carry" the cares of others and often have sore feet. Christ spoke of his role as servant to his flock, which is also a very Pisces notion. Pisces says, "I believe," whereas Aquarius, the age we are in now, says, "Prove it to me scientifically." "

My point in all this is this. What happened to that excitement in life, and in the universe? It was replaced by what we had before, the 1950s. Have we really been evolving all that much since then? Stagnating may be more like it. We've advanced some culturally and retrograded some culturally. Technological and financial breakthroughs galore have occurred, but what about the adventure of the Human race? Or of Humanity's quality of life?

Why are we still working harder, only for corporations and the rich to live easier and make more off of everyone else's backs? Much of which those of the rich really don't even need? I'm not saying being rich is bad. Or that people shouldn't be allowed to strive to have more than others, I'm just saying at at some point, there is only so much to go around and for only a few to have so much, and for too many to have so very little, is in itself, too much.

We need to get back to an age of "waking up culturally" as we were in the 60s. When we did that it scared the hell out of those in charge and in the end, their power petered out into what, a "War on Drugs" to distract the masses. As if that was what had caused the upheaval, rather than a growing realization of the possibilities in life beyond 9-5 work days.

The next time you have a decision to make, or see a news piece on how things are in the world, try to consider it through a filter of what was meant in being in the, "Age of Aquarius". Try to see things outside the box we've been compressed into. Try to see that box. See behind the box to those who built it. And see if you don't see that we should, and we can, raise the quality of our lives, and of that of the Human Race in it's entirety.

Monday, September 2, 2013

First of all, a happy Labor Day holiday to you all. I hope you have done something fun and interesting this three day weekend, or longer, or that you got a three day weekend, or longer.

So, I was looking through photos on my hard drive and run into these. I was at ZomBcon last year and met Tom Savini, got to shake his hand and thank him for his making a living as he does. I've been following his works since close to the beginning.

Tom Savini and Sco Triplets

I was also at the first ZomBcon in 2010 in Seattle with my son and we met the Sco triplets, all seen in the photo together at last year's ZomBcon where I signed a book as an author for the first time. The Sco triplets were with there with Taj Jackson (Michael Jackson's nephew) all who did the Code Z film (Directed by : Taj Jackson, Starring: Thaina Sco, Thaisa Sco and Thayana Sco).

Taj Jackson

Taj couldn't have been nicer and is a pretty together guy and the ladies were awesome, beautiful, sweet and so polite. We stood there talking to them for a little while and I was glad my son stopped me and drug me back to meet them. Malcolm McDowell, Bruce Campbell and George Romero were also at ZomBcon I. And I always visit my friend Cal Miller of Zilyon Publishing at these conventions.

Anyway, here's why I mention this. I spoke of this in a blog about the convention when I went last year, but this was such a strange moment I had to mention it again.

Sid Haig

Around 2PM I had gone to the bar at the hotel to have something to eat. While I was sitting there I noticed at the table across from me nearest to the bar was Sid Haig. Tom Savini came in, spoke with him and sat down.

Bill Moseley

Then Bill Moseley drifted in and sat. So the three of them are sitting there, I'm having a beer and waiting on my food to arrive and up walked "Zombie Jesus". Now I had seen him earlier and just had to talk to him and he turned out to be an interesting guy. Seemed like he'd had a few or was slightly on some other plane of existence, but I liked him a lot and found him interesting and entertaining.

Zombie "ZJ" Jesus

So, up walks Zombie Jesus to the table with these guys who are icons of the Horror film genre and he tells them he has to tell them, well, whatever. Something. So let's recap: standard story of Zombie Jesus walking into a bar and meets three icons of Horror all sitting at a table together. That alone was good enough. Then his girlfriend in a Nazi hat wanders in....

The "Blessing"

So in the end Zombie Jesus tells them that before he leaves he has to bless them. And then, he does. The sight of Zombie Jesus "blessing" these three Horror film professionals sitting in a bar (albeit a very nice bar), was simply too apropos to believe.

A wider shot

I looked around. No one else noticed it. I wished I had a video camera but it was too late anyway. Where were my Google glasses when I need them?

I knew, no one would ever quite get what I had just experienced. You see, you just had to be there to see it, because it was just so much more in the viewing than in the telling. Even if you do, "get it" intellectually, being there made the difference. The reactions of Tom and the others, their interactions, "ZJ's" reactions, all added up to something quite unique.

It was just one of those moments in time where you are there, you "get it", you don't just let it pass you by, but then you register that you alone have just seen something quite unique and special. it's yours and yours alone and you just wish someone had been there with you. It is from then on that you figure it was one of those moments, sadly or not, that have been staged for you and you alone.